Japanese lifestyle brand Uniqlo and tennis legend Roger Federer have launched a Spring/Summer collection, inspired by the tennis players style.

The launch event was hosted yesterday (26 March) at the retailer’s newly revamped Covent Garden store.

The collection was designed by creative director Clare Waight Keller with input from the tennis star, who is a global ambassador for the brand.

At the event, Waight Keller explains that she wanted the collection to blend timelessness with the “utility and performance that is essential everyday life”.

She highlights that it was important for her to understand Uniqlo’s technology and how it could be worked into the items, whilst maintaining an “everyday wardrobe feel”.

She says: “Everything is super stretch, high function, dry wicking so you don’t look all sweaty and horrible. And so it’s one of those things that I think is a constant in my mind is how I can mesh those two things together to make it look really effortless and beautiful, but also just very easy for everyone to wear as well.

“I think what is the sort of major part of Uniqlo clothes is the fact that everyone can wear something here.”

She explains that when she looked at designing the collection she wanted to make it look more tailored.

She comments: “I think the trend of having kind of jogging hoodies, sweatshirts in your everyday wardrobe has just been so prevalent over the last five years. And so it’s how do we make that look much more elegant so you don’t look like you’ve just walked out the gym.

“And I’m really looking at fabrications in terms of both their function and the overall look. And Federer has got this very sort of tailored style, which to me, is so chic. And I felt like adding that element into this collection just pulls it away from just being pure track to being something that is more lifestyle, more life wear and so that was a key consideration for this design.”

Federer says: “I mean, the tailoring can be super important. From a suit all the way down to a track suit or a Polo. If it fits well, it looks so much, so much better. It’s amazing, actually, what it does. And I think Claire does an amazing job of making it look really elevated because it’s not easy to make something very simple look and feel really special.

“So I think that’s always a challenge. It’s much easier to add crazy prints and crazy things to it and talking about that. But I think having something super chic is more complicated and more difficult. And I think we did very well.”

He added: “I’ve always been a fan of having pieces that you can wear on and off work because I believe tennis has an incredible deep, rooted style that we should highlight more”.

The Dry-Ex polo shirts; which are Federer’s favourite piece from the collection, are available in two designs. The button type has a collar that remains standing with ribbing on the sleeves and bottom hems. The half-zips uses mesh material on the shoulders to provide “breathability”.

Federer said: “I also really wanted to have a tennis outfit or a polo that I could wear if I did play an exhibition, tour or charity matches. So I’m happy we came up with a with a nice variation of different colour polos as well.”

It features a new tennis-court inspired green colourway in addition to the navy and white palette that featured in the pairs last collaboration.

Waight Keller explain that for the new green colourway she was inspired by Wimbledon green.

Federer adds that they wanted to build upon the blacks and navy’s of the last collection and add a pop of colour.

He says: “So the idea was let’s add a little bit of more colour to it but still keep it chic and classy. And I like the green and the blues we chose because it is a slippery slope.”

Other items in the collection include a 3D knit hoodie and dry stretch sweats.

Waight Keller said: “I think the idea of the sort of like modern tracksuit for me is always like key. I think it’s a constant sort of evolution in trend is like, how we sort of reinterpret that tracksuit. So for me, there’s a chic, more tailored version that’s really fresh.”

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